Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Watch Ashley Judd’s biting speech on Trump: “Our pussies ain’t for grabbing”

“I am a nasty woman,” actress and activist Ashley Judd declared at the Women’s March on Washington Saturday, before delivering a biting poem about President Donald Trump, his Cabinet, and his supporters.

“I am not as nasty as a man who looks like he bathes in Cheetos dust,” she said, jabbing at Trump’s looks.

Judd, reciting a poem by 19-year-old Nina Donovan, spoke to a crowd estimated at a half a million people who have descended on the nation’s capital to protest Trump on his first full day as president. The Women’s March has seen about double the turnout of Trump’s inauguration ceremony, and similar protests have been organized in cities around the country and the world (even Antarctica).

“I am not as nasty as a Confederate flag being tattooed across my city. ... I am not as nasty as a swastika painted on a pride flag,” Judd said, referencing the white nationalist groups that endorsed Trump’s presidency.

Judd, a self-proclaimed “loud, vulgar, proud woman,” went to the extreme of comparing Trump to Hitler and referring to his Cabinet picks as “Nazis renamed,” before highlighting the wage inequality between men and women and the luxury taxes imposed on feminine hygiene products.

“I am nasty like my bloodstains on my bed sheets,” Judd said. “We do not actually choose if and when we had our periods. We do not like throwing away our favorite pairs of underpants. Why are pads and tampons still taxed when Viagra and Rogaine are not? Is your erection really more than protecting the parts of my womanhood? Is the bloodstain on my jeans more embarrassing than the thinning of your hair?”

“I am nasty like Susan, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Amelia, Rosa, Gloria, Condoleezza, Sonia, Malala, Michelle, Hillary!” she concluded. “And our pussies ain’t for grabbing.”

UPDATE: This post was updated to attribute the poem Judd recited to the original author, Nina Donovan.

See More:

More in Politics

The Logoff
Trump’s DOJ wants to undo January 6 convictionsTrump’s DOJ wants to undo January 6 convictions
The Logoff

How the Trump administration is still trying to rewrite January 6 history.

By Cameron Peters
Politics
Donald Trump messed with the wrong popeDonald Trump messed with the wrong pope
Politics

Trump fought with Pope Francis before. He’s finding Pope Leo XIV to be a tougher foil.

By Christian Paz
Podcasts
A cautionary tale about tax cutsA cautionary tale about tax cuts
Podcast
Podcasts

California cut property taxes in the 1970s. It didn’t go so well.

By Miles Bryan and Noel King
Podcasts
Obama’s top Iran negotiator on Trump’s screwupsObama’s top Iran negotiator on Trump’s screwups
Podcast
Podcasts

Wendy Sherman helped Obama reach a deal with Iran. Here’s what she thinks Trump is doing wrong.

By Kelli Wessinger and Noel King
Politics
The Supreme Court could legalize moonshine, and ruin everything elseThe Supreme Court could legalize moonshine, and ruin everything else
Politics

McNutt v. DOJ could allow the justices to seize tremendous power over the US economy.

By Ian Millhiser
The Logoff
The new Hormuz blockade, briefly explainedThe new Hormuz blockade, briefly explained
The Logoff

Trump tries Iran’s playbook.

By Cameron Peters